Move over Tim Allen. It’s time to talk about men—real men! I don’t know what that means but it sounds good and makes a good opener. My sons have tried to prove their manhood by doing such things as getting tattoos and piercings. Then girls started doing that too, so they had a contest to see who could eat the most jalapeno peppers at one sitting. That made them sick, but I don’t think it proved they were particularly manly. It turns out that flossing may be a really good thing to do to ensure your manliness. There are some statistics that apply specifically to men concerning their oral health and how it relates to the rest of them.

There is a connection between oral health and a variety of health concerns that you may not typically associate with dental care. 34% of men between the ages of 30 and 54 years old have gum disease. This increases a man’s risk of kidney cancer by 49%, pancreatic cancer by 54% and blood cancers by 30%. It also increases the chance of having erectile dysfunction by 7 times! 1 in 4 men in the U.S. dies from heart disease, which is also linked to gum disease. It also gives you really bad breath which decreases your chances of getting laid by 80%, and that’s only because there are 20% of the female population that will kiss anything! (Not really, I just threw that one in there to see if you were paying attention. But it’s probably true; they just haven’t researched it yet.)

Also, on average, men will lose 5.4 teeth by age 72, with smokers losing an average of 12 teeth. (That’s over 1/3 of your teeth!)

So what can you do about it? If you smoke or chew tobacco, quit. It’s hard, it’s inconvenient, who has time for that? But, seriously, you need to concentrate on quitting. Do it on vacation if you can, because getting out of your normal routine will help. Do whatever it takes, because it will optimize your health in so many ways. Just a side note, don’t take up smoking weed in place of smoking cigarettes. It’s the smoke entering your lungs as a foreign body that is bad for you. If you’re going to use marijuana there are other ways to use it like putting it in food or using topical oils, etc.